


Cute When You Smile

by Ocelot_l



Category: Channel Awesome, That Guy with the Glasses
Genre: Arcade, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Having a Bad Day, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-30
Updated: 2012-06-30
Packaged: 2017-11-08 21:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ocelot_l/pseuds/Ocelot_l
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A trip to the arcade is just what 90s Kid needs to cheer him up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cute When You Smile

Today was not a good day for 90s Kid.

His alarm didn’t go off, so he overslept and missed out on watching that totally radical cartoon with the magical horses he loved so much. He stepped on his favorite pair of sunglasses and cracked the frame so badly that the damage was impossible to repair. Worst of all, a stack of comic books he’d been sorting went missing, and when 90s Kid tried to search for them, Linkara reprimanded him for making a mess of the house.

90s Kid tried to explain that he was going to put everything back once his comics had been located, but Linkara was not in the mood to listen.

“You’re always so immature,” he told him, his usual calm expression replaced by an annoyed frown. “Can’t you try to grow up just a little?”

90s Kid wanted to protest. He always worked hard to help Linkara and his team, cleaning weapons and making sure Comicron-1 was well-equipped in case they needed to do battle. Even when he couldn’t help with a fight, 90s Kid was always ready to take orders and aid Linkara however he could. Just because he liked comics and having Nerf Gun fights more than most didn’t mean he was immature. 

But it was no use. Linkara was giving him that look, that soul-piercing stare that just screamed his disappointment in 90s Kid without even a word needing to be spoken. 

90s Kid hated being a disappointment. It was the worst feeling in the world, worse than losing all your Nirvana albums and breaking your Sega Genesis at the same time. All he ever wanted was for Linkara to smile at him and tell him he’d done a good job. That he wasn’t a totally worthless idiot with nothing of value to offer.

Today would not be one of those days.

90s Kid fled the house soon after his encounter with Linkara. He couldn’t bear being around him or any of the others a second longer. If he saw their disappointed faces, 90s Kid knew he would break down and cry. He hated doing that more than anything. Crying was the complete opposite of awesome.

So he escaped to the one place that never failed to make him feel better: the arcade. 90s Kid always felt like he was entering a cool, secret club when he visited the arcade, where the neon lights shone like a beacon guiding him to shelter, and the darkness helped him escape from the rest of the world. 

Here, 90s Kid could forget all the horrible things that happened in his life. Here, he could become a superhero or a racecar driver without ever needing to worry about whether he was good enough.

90s Kid dropped quarter after quarter into his favorite machines, trying to lose himself in the feel of the buttons under his fingers and the colorful graphics flashing before his eyes. 

However, his terrible day was still not over. A hole in his pocket meant 90s Kid’s emergency supply of quarters was soon depleted, and just as he was about to defeat Magneto on his favorite ‘X-Men’ game, the power surged and the game restarted before he could achieve victory.

“This is bogus!” 90s Kid kicked the side of the machine angrily before storming over to complain to the manager. Someone was already in his office, however, so 90s Kid was forced to wait and watch as a man in a white suit jacket talked to him first.

“My friend, I’ve been looking around this arcade for an hour, but I still haven’t been able to find any of my favorites games like Defender, Tron, or Pac-Man. Hell, I haven’t even seen the comely clone Ms. Pac-Man out there either. Could you direct me to their location?”

“Sir, for the fourth time, we don’t carry any of those games. You’re going to have to try another arcade.”

“Hurry it up, dude,” 90s Kid growled under his breath. His impatience and frustration with the whole day were growing each second he was forced to wait until he felt like he could explode at the slightest provocation. 

Finally, it seemed the other customer was finished. 90s Kid moved eagerly toward the door, ready to get a few things off his chest, when he collided with another young man. A young man who was carrying a large cup of Sprite without a lid that subsequently drenched 90s Kid in the span of ten seconds.

“Oh. Sorry.” That’s all he said before walking away, leaving 90s Kid frozen in place, blinking slowly and dripping soda onto the floor.

He wanted to scream, wanted to yell until his lungs hurt, and break things, any things, even his favorite games. But he couldn’t. All 90s Kid could do was stand there, cold and humiliated, as his eyes started to mist over.

No, he refused to do this in front of everyone. 90s Kid fought back his tears and hurried into the restroom. He grabbed a handful of paper towels and started to dry his arms and face, trying to keep in control. 

“Crying’s uncool, crying’s uncool,” he repeated, even though his body was ready to disagree. When he was relatively dry, 90s Kid pulled off his jacket and was about to wring it into the sink before he noticed the man in the white jacket from before watching him. 90s Kid froze again but the other man only smiled.

“Hey, are you all right? I saw what happened before. That was awful. Oh, I’m 80s Dan, by the way.” Dan flashed a smile. “So, do you need any help or anything?” He moved closer and plucked an unnoticed piece of ice from 90s Kid’s shoulder. “Perhaps in the beverage disposal department?”

“Y-you want to help me?” 

Dan nodded. “Sure. A fellow gamer shouldn’t walk around smelling like such an inferior soft drink. I’d be happy to help.”

His tone was so warm and genuine that the last of 90s Kid’s resolve broke. He started to cry and lowered his head so he wouldn’t have to see the pity and disgust he knew was coming.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Instead of fleeing like most would, Dan moved closer to 90s Kid and put a hand on his shoulder in concern. Instinctively 90s Kid turned toward the warmth and before he could stop himself, he was embracing Dan, his face buried in his shoulder.

He knew it was ridiculous and probably creepy and honestly just plain weird, but 90s Kid didn’t care. Oddly enough, Dan didn’t seem to either. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t try to move away either, content to let 90s Kid cling to him.

“S-sorry,” 90s Kid choked out, “sorry, dude.”

“It’s okay,” Dan said. He was so warm, and when he moved his arms up to hug him back, 90s Kid couldn’t help sobbing louder. “I’ve had days like this too, where you just want to grab your trusty robot buddy and run away from everything.”

90s Kid didn’t totally understand what he meant, because Pollo would never want to run away with him, but he nodded as if he did, and tightened his hold around Dan further. His sniffles echoed softly throughout the room but for the first time ever, 90s Kid didn’t care how un-awesome he looked and sounded. None of that mattered when someone was holding you close.

Later that evening, 90s Kid found himself dressed in a clean outfit and cuddled on a very comfortable couch with his new friend Dan. The events of earlier were all but forgotten and his tears had finally dried. He didn’t even have time to focus on anything negative, not when his mind was clouded by thoughts of movies he could show Dan the next time he came over, and that it was amazing how perfectly Dan fit under the curl of his arm. Couch cuddles were totally moving to the top of his list of the most radical things ever. 

“Well, now, that's interesting”

“Huh, dude? What is? The movie?” 90s Kid looked up from the bowl of popcorn he was currently enjoying and found Dan watching him with a soft fondness in his eyes.

“No, you. You're cute when you smile. It suits you so much better than sadness.”

As 90s Kid started to blush, and felt Dan’s fingers curling gently around his own, he decided that really, today had not been such a bad day after all.


End file.
